Music Creation Part 2: Create a Song From Scratch

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This is the second segment in Joel’s two-part series on digital music creation. Part one covered an analysis of three major software suites.

It’s unorthodox. It’s different from what you’ve read elsewhere. But this is one man’s method of taking ordinary music software, namely Sony ACID Music Studio 7.0, and creating a song from nothing more than an idea.

I’ve mastered songs before, and even having read lots of other methods of making use of music software, this is the way I’ve found to be the easiest, the most free-flowing, and the most conductive to the creative process. Some people might whine that you have to do this first, or lay down tracks in that order, or something about bad habits—but I couldn’t care less about the accepted, traditional way.

This is how I make songs. And I’m going to share it with you. I actually wrote a song for this piece and worked extensively on it, documenting the process from conception to exportation. It doesn’t quite sound like something that would come out of a professional recording studio, but it’s definitely demo-quality (which is what I may do with it).

It’s unlikely you’ll create pro-sounding tunes your first, or fifth, or twentieth try. Honing your PC-based musical skills takes as much practice and experience as learning an instrument. What’s best about doing this on the PC is that you don’t have to know all the instruments; most software comes with enough samples and MIDI soft synths that you can create any sound you like, from piano and guitars to drums, with a click of the mouse or with sprightly fingers on a musical keyboard.

I can’t play guitar, though I’m on the verge of learning. I can barely play keyboard—I can remember a few keys to bang and spit them out during a recording pass. I’ve never attempted to play bass or drums or any other instrument (save for a bugle when I was a tyke). With such meager skills, I’m still able to produce a song, given a week and a half of intense session time. After you go through this tutorial, you, too, should have the essential ideas behind scratching out your very first computer tune. Continued…

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